General Ling is stunned by what the crown prince said and he blanks out.
"Illegitimate daughter??" General Ling unconsciously repeats what the crown prince said.
"Really?! So Shang Jian Rui must have met Ying Yue's mother while he was still travelling the world, with nothing but a sword at his side right! he must have saved her an-" The crown prince started blabbing about his fantasies of the cultivators that he hears often in stories but before he could finish describing the adventures of Shang Jian Rui in his fantasies, General Ling makes several coughs to interrupt him.
*cough* *cough*
"Your Highness, Ying Yue is not his illegitimate daughter, but instead the fiancee of his eldest son." General Ling explains.
The crown prince has a frown on his face now, showing his disapproval for the marriage. "How could a girl with talent that rivals the heavens be in an arranged marriage with a useless person?! Is the Ying family out of their minds?"
"Your Highness, I spent a great deal of money to bribe the servants as I had the same reaction as you. Apparently, the little girl said that they met when they were young and he had saved her life or something like that, which made her fall in love with him. I do not recommend that you interfere with this marriage as both Shang Jian Rui and Meng Zhi Rou might go crazy but perhaps if you destroy the image that Ying Yue has of her husband, she might realise that it was just a crush and call off the wedding on her own." General Ling reports his findings to the crown prince who is deep in thought now.
"What is the boy busy with now? He should have gotten a job in the government according to the rules of the Shang Family?" the crown prince asks.
"Your highest, the boy's name is Shang Shi, and he is now a travelling judge, but he has set off on a riding circuit a long time ago." General Ling answers.
"I heard from my royal father that you will be heading out to clear the rebels soon? If there is a chance, just get rid of him. I will start talking about her to my royal father and get the grand astrologer to check her birth date. Once Shang Shi is dead, I will propose a marriage to her if she is a good match, otherwise, she can just become one of my concubines when I become the emperor." The crown prince gives an order nonchalantly as if talking about squashing an ant.
"Yes, your highness!" General Ling immediately answers.
Right now, the crown prince is already thinking about how nice it would be to have the most talented girl in the empire waiting on him.
…
The next day at Yao Feng Town, the magistrate and his steward are eating with us while he informs us about the findings of the coroner and the case of the ministry of rites being burnt. This time, everyone is interested in the report so we all sit together and listen attentively while munching our bread.
"We found a total of 9 corpses in the debris of the Ministry of Rites. 7 of these belong to the guard dogs that were raised to chase away trespassers and petty criminals and the coroner found that all of these dogs were killed with a single slash. Half of these were accurate slashes at the throat of the dogs, while the others were martial moves which had separated their heads from their bodies. This was one reason why nobody heard the dogs barking."
"As for the other two corpses, they are the bodies of a woman, in her early twenties and the man should be in his early thirties. They were stripped naked and were tortured before they burned to death. The coroner found eleven stabs on both the man and the woman which were not fatal and they were eventually bound together and gagged. They were then left in one of the offices and were burned to death in the fire." The magistrate took a bite of his bread once he finished reporting the coroner's findings.
General Ling is stunned by what the crown prince said and he blanks out.
"Illegitimate daughter??" General Ling unconsciously repeats what the crown prince said.
"Really?! So Shang Jian Rui must have met Ying Yue's mother while he was still travelling the world, with nothing but a sword at his side right! he must have saved her an-" The crown prince started blabbing about his fantasies of the cultivators that he hears often in stories but before he could finish describing the adventures of Shang Jian Rui in his fantasies, General Ling makes several coughs to interrupt him.
*cough* *cough*
"Your Highness, Ying Yue is not his illegitimate daughter, but instead the fiancee of his eldest son." General Ling explains.
The crown prince has a frown on his face now, showing his disapproval for the marriage. "How could a girl with talent that rivals the heavens be in an arranged marriage with a useless person?! Is the Ying family out of their minds?"
"Your Highness, I spent a great deal of money to bribe the servants as I had the same reaction as you. Apparently, the little girl said that they met when they were young and he had saved her life or something like that, which made her fall in love with him. I do not recommend that you interfere with this marriage as both Shang Jian Rui and Meng Zhi Rou might go crazy but perhaps if you destroy the image that Ying Yue has of her husband, she might realise that it was just a crush and call off the wedding on her own." General Ling reports his findings to the crown prince who is deep in thought now.
"What is the boy busy with now? He should have gotten a job in the government according to the rules of the Shang Family?" the crown prince asks.
"Your highest, the boy's name is Shang Shi, and he is now a travelling judge, but he has set off on a riding circuit a long time ago." General Ling answers.
"I heard from my royal father that you will be heading out to clear the rebels soon? If there is a chance, just get rid of him. I will start talking about her to my royal father and get the grand astrologer to check her birth date. Once Shang Shi is dead, I will propose a marriage to her if she is a good match, otherwise, she can just become one of my concubines when I become the emperor." The crown prince gives an order nonchalantly as if talking about squashing an ant.
"Yes, your highness!" General Ling immediately answers.
Right now, the crown prince is already thinking about how nice it would be to have the most talented girl in the empire waiting on him.
…
The next day at Yao Feng Town, the magistrate and his steward are eating with us while he informs us about the findings of the coroner and the case of the ministry of rites being burnt. This time, everyone is interested in the report so we all sit together and listen attentively while munching our bread.
"We found a total of 9 corpses in the debris of the Ministry of Rites. 7 of these belong to the guard dogs that were raised to chase away trespassers and petty criminals and the coroner found that all of these dogs were killed with a single slash. Half of these were accurate slashes at the throat of the dogs, while the others were martial moves which had separated their heads from their bodies. This was one reason why nobody heard the dogs barking."
"As for the other two corpses, they are the bodies of a woman, in her early twenties and the man should be in his early thirties. They were stripped naked and were tortured before they burned to death. The coroner found eleven stabs on both the man and the woman which were not fatal and they were eventually bound together and gagged. They were then left in one of the offices and were burned to death in the fire." The magistrate took a bite of his bread once he finished reporting the coroner's findings.
